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First Look

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

Many AMS modelers will collect the relevant Eduard photo-etch sets for a given project, but they'll also go out and gather specific resin enhancements as well. Eduard has stepped up with a new product line to complement their photo-etched detail series - Brassin.

Brassin is a play on words with Brass and Resin, and in many sets in this series, the resin details also include a set of color photo-etch as well.

In this release, Eduard has produced the most detailed ejection seat I've ever seen. While this set is supposed to be for the Academy 1/48 F-22A Raptor kit, this seat is a complete model kit of its own right.

The seat is cast in grey resin, with the rear seat rails, upper A-frame, and bail-out bottle all cast in dark grey resin. The set is rounded out by a fret of color-printed photo-etched parts.

The resin seat is beautifully cast without all of the details usually cast onto other aftermarket seats. Instead, each of those details are provided as photo-etched parts. Most of the cockpit mounting structures for the seat rails are rendered as photo-etch so you'll have some eye-catching detail there alone. Add to that the disctinctive seatbelts and riser attachments that are color printed, as are the ejection handle and various other placards and details, and you have the most detailed ACES II seat ever produced in scale. There is also a safety streamer for the safety pins included but the instructions don't indicate how to 'safe' the seat.

You should be able to find this detail set at your local hobby retailer or one of the many online hobby shops. Trust me, this is worth looking for!